


The Knight and the Dragon

by Nightfoot



Category: Tales of Vesperia
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 18:33:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightfoot/pseuds/Nightfoot
Summary: Sometimes, a princess has to rescue her knight.





	The Knight and the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick fluffy thing inspired by a scene in the radio show Cabin Pressure.

The Dragon was the most feared person in the castle.  The seventy-year old woman had an actual name, of course, but nobody bothered to remember it.  One fiery look from the head housekeeper could send a scullery maid running home in tears.  She had the solemn duty of organizing the army of servants that kept the castle running.  She commanded the hordes of cooks that provided food for the hundreds of castle residents, the legion of laundresses churning the never-ending cycle of clothes coming in and out of the laundry room, and the battalion of maids who worked day and night to keep the castle sparkling. 

Such a job took a good deal of planning and organization.  In the past thirty years, the Dragon had streamlined her processes and had an exact method for everything.  Woe unto the maid who thought to shake things up and clean in a different order.  In fact, woe unto the Council member who trekked mud across a recently cleaned floor, because the only people who could escape the wrath of the Dragon were royalty themselves.  

And today, it was woe unto Commandant Flynn, who had thought to be helpful by doing his laundry himself early one morning.  

“-occupied a wash station for an entire hour!” the Dragon screeched.  “Which means only twenty-nine of the girls could be working on residential block A’s bedding this evening, completely throwing off the schedule!” 

“I’m very sorry.”  Flynn had his back to the wall, wet clothes in a bundle in his arms.  She’d caught him on his way to hang them up to dry.  “I just thought-” 

“Clearly you did not!  How would you feel if I started ordering your knights around, hm?!” 

Her lined face was thoroughly red by now and Flynn had never been so convinced that the Dragon moniker was more than just a nickname. He was glad for the wet clothes because it seemed actual fire might actually start spitting out next.  Flynn supposed that the majority of castle residents would never even consider doing their own laundry, but even after living here for a few years, he'd never been able to shake the feeling that he  _should_ be doing it himself.  Every time he watched maids carry away his dirty clothes and freshly folded ones appeared in his drawers that evening, he couldn't shake that feeling that he was, in some way, betraying his roots.  

“Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, I-” 

“That last commandant may not have been perfect, but at least he understood his place in the castle and never dared to set foot in my domain!” The Dragon, of course, had no sympathy for his struggle with identity.  

Flynn opened his mouth again, but this time no words came out because his mind had stumbled over comprehending that description of Alexei.  In his silence, her barrage continued. 

“You overstep your bounds, you throw off my schedule without care, waste my time trying to fix things, and insult me by suggesting that my girls can’t wash your shorts properly!  You’ll be lucky if I don’t report your gross insult to His Majesty himself!  You-!” 

“Excuse me?”  Estellise appeared in the doorway, head tilted in curiosity.  

The Dragon spun around, fury on her lips, but it sputtered out at the sight of Estellise.  “Oh!  Your Highness!” 

“I heard yelling.  What’s going on?”  She looked to Flynn and he wished she’d found him in a more impressive state than looking lost, guilty, intimidated, and scolded while holding a pile of wet boxer shorts.   Rather than amusement, though, her eyes showed concern.

“I beg your pardon for disturbing you, Princess Estellise.”  The Dragon’s tone had shifted from iron to butter.  That was the thing about the Dragon – her fervour at maintaining the castle was rooted in a deep admiration for the divinity of royalty.  “Commandant Flynn caused a hiccup in my washing schedule by daring to take over one of the stations-” 

“On my command!”  Estellise puffed herself up as she pulled her eyes away from Flynn and tried to copy the Dragon’s imposing air. 

“On your… I’m sorry?” 

Estellise tried to damnedest to sound imperious. “The commandant is having dinner with me this evening.  When I discovered he did not have a recently-washed shirt, I _demanded_ he go wash it immediately.”  She punched a fist into her palm to try to look more intimidating.  “Why are you interfering with my arrangements?” 

Flynn thought Estellise pulled off 'imposing' about as well as an indignant kitten, but it seemed the Dragon was too starry-eyed by royal blood to see through the act.“I beg your pardon, Your Highness.”  She bowed deeply.  “I have terribly misunderstood the situation.  Please accept my humblest apologies.” 

“Hm… ok!”  Flynn had to hold in a laugh; Estellise was truly awful at intimidating.  “But you have to go now and not interfere with him fulfilling my demands.” 

“Yes, of course, right away.”  The Dragon bowed again and then hurried away. 

When she was gone, Estellise folded her hands behind her back and smiled at Flynn so brightly she had to close her eyes.  

“I thought she was going to bite my head off,” Flynn said as he approached her.  “That was some quick thinking to claim responsibility for my mistake.”

“I don’t think it was a mistake to want to wash your own clothes.  Trust me, I grew up here.  She can be a little unreasonable.  But you know….”  Estellise lowered her voice and looked around conspiratorially.  “Just in case she decides to check in on my story, I think we really should have dinner together tonight after all.” 

Flynn smiled back.  “It’s a date.”  Then he looked down and considered that the next time he planned a date with Estellise, he hoped he didn't ask her while holding a pile of his undergarments. 

“Yay! I can’t wait.” 

“And really, I can’t thank you enough.  It’s funny - I’ll face monsters without fear, but that housekeeper….”  Flynn shuddered. 

“Don’t worry about it.”  Estellise beamed and then quickly kissed his cheek.  “It’s always good to have a princess around to rescue a handsome knight from a dragon.”


End file.
